Montreal is stepping up policing of motorists illegally parking on bike lanes. After the Réseau express vélo (REV) Saint-Denis, officers will now circulate on seven busy axes to file criminal charges. And soon they will be able to tow away cars that are in the way.
Posted at 5:00 am
Henri Ouellette-Vézina La Presse
“It’s illegal to park on a bike lane and we want it to be known,” Montreal Executive Committee head of transport and mobility Sophie Mauzerolle told La Presse.
At the end of May, when announcing its 2022 cycling program, the Plante administration announced that the REV Saint-Denis would be the subject of a pilot project of continuous surveillance to deal with vehicles parked on cycle lanes, a phenomenon “increasingly reported” to local authorities. Agents from the Sustainable Mobility Agency (AMD) are assigned to it.
Seven axes have recently been added to this pilot project: rue Peel, between rue Smith and rue Ottawa, avenue Laurier, between boulevard Saint-Laurent and avenue Papineau, rue McGill, between rue Saint-Jacques and de la Commune, rue de Verdun, rue Adam, in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, the Prieur-Sauriol axis, in Ahuntsic, and the REV Viger/Saint-Antoine axis, in Ville-Marie and the south-west.
In the Rue Peel in particular, “we are particularly challenged because of harmful problems,” assures Ms. Mauzerolle.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVE
Sophie Mauzerolle, Montreal Executive Committee Transport and Mobility Manager
In addition to reporting, our agents will be able to tow the vehicles on site in the coming weeks. It’s a grand gesture.
Sophie Mauzerolle, Montreal Executive Committee Transport and Mobility Manager
Between June 1 and August 1 — the first two months of the pilot, including one in which the REV Saint-Denis was the only area monitored — the city claims to have issued more than 400 insults against motorists driving illegally are parked on a bike lane, the equivalent of seven per day. The fine is $173.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
The Peel Street Bike Path between Smith Street and Ottawa Street is one of the axis overseen by the Sustainable Mobility Agency.
“Our desire remains to eventually expand this to the entire territory, but we’re getting there in stages. Meanwhile, AMD will identify sectors where there seems to be more crime, says Sophie Mauzerolle. The idea, beginning with the REV Saint-Denis, was to determine the level of intervention required and the number of officers needed. It is also an axis with more commercial sectors, others more inhabited, so it gives an idea where the main problems lie. »
safety first
At Vélo Québec, President and CEO Jean-François Rheault welcomes the initiative. “We are particularly pleased that the city is adapting quickly after a pilot project throughout the year. The REV Saint-Denis is not the axle with the most problems. Adding McGill and Verdun will be especially useful. They were the ones we named for the future,” he responds.
Regarding towing vehicles blocking the passage, Mr. Rheault recalls that such a practice is already practiced in several cities, some even in reserved lanes. “It certainly helps to solve the security problem, immediately. It also contributes to education, behavior change. If it happens to us, we remember it and we pay attention, ”believes the CEO.
He urges the city to “continue to collect data” on the development of the cycling network, “constantly adapt” and add even more monitoring on more axes as the number of daily passages increases.
If it happens that a vehicle is parked in a bike lane, you can often report it by calling 911. But this is really not the best tool. With a dedicated team we believe it will really improve the safety of cyclists who are already more vulnerable.
Jean-François Rheault, CEO of Velo Quebec
This is all because Quebec saw a significant increase in the number of cyclists hospitalized during the pandemic, a phenomenon completely opposite to the trend seen in the rest of the population. Hospitalizations for bicycle injuries increased 20% from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, according to data released Tuesday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). About 1,199 cyclists were caught in the emergency room during that period, compared with 1,001 in the same period last year.
As Quebec residents were urged to stay home due to the pandemic, the number of hospitalizations fell sharply year-over-year from 67,374 to 60,792, a decrease of “around 10%.”
CIHI’s hypothesis to explain these statistics is quite simple: the number of cyclists has increased tenfold during the pandemic due to a lack of other sporting opportunities.
With the collaboration of Vincent Larin, La Presse
call everyone
Have you spotted vehicles parked on a bike lane? Which measures should be preferred to promote the coexistence of car drivers and cyclists?